Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02427863 2008-04-29
CERAMIC CUTTING INSERT OF POLYCRYSTALLINE TUNGSTEN
CARBIDE
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of ceramics and particularly to dense
polycrystalline
tungsten carbide inserts with chip control.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the machining process, it is important for the cutting tool to work
effectively at high
speeds and to have a long tool life. In order for the cutting tool to be
effective, it must be
made of a material which results in the todl having a high heat hardness and a
high transverse
rupture strength and fracture toughness, and it must also have a design
sufficient to control
the flow of chips which are formed in the machining process and to reduce the
cutting forces.
Chip control is an important element of the machining process, in order to
break up
the length of undesirably long chips which may be formed in the machining
process. In high
speed machining, if the strip taken off from the workpiece by the cutting
insert is not broken
up, the strip can interfere with the machining process in a variety of ways.
For example, an
undesirably long chip can be re-cut and welded onto a portion of the
workpiece, thereby
causing poor surface conditions on the workpiece. An undesirably long chip, if
not broken
under chip control, can also cause breakage of the machining tool itself.
Additionally,
undesirably long chips can feed into the tool holder or other portions of the
machine and
cause difficulties, e.g., damaging parts of the tool holder or obstructing
visibility of the
working area. Further, long ribbons are difficult to handle and can represent
a safety hazard
to the machine operator. Accordingly, there is a need in the high speed
machining.process to
provide chip control. One method for controlling chip production is to
incorporate an insert
into the cutting tool, with the insert providing the means for chip control.
Many different
types of ceramic cutting tools with chip control inserts have been described,
including those
in U.S. Patent No. 5,628,590; 5,141,367; and 5,330,296
1
CA 02427863 2003-04-29
WO 02/083348 PCT/US01/51614
In addition to chip control, another important aspect of cutting tools are the
materials
of which they are made. Cutting tools have been made with ceramics and ceramic-
metal
composites ("cermets"), including tungsten carbide ("WC"). Early work with WC
focused
upon densifying WC by heating to a temperature of, for example, 2,O00C . The
densified
material was judged unsuitable for use in applications requiring toughness,
such as in cutting
tools. The unsuitability stemmed largely from the densified material's
excessively brittle
character.
Efforts to overcome or offset some of the brittleness led to incorporation of
an amount
of a metal by admixing powdered metal and WC powder to form a composite and
densifying
the composite at a temperature above that at which the metal melts. The
inetal, most
frequently an iron group metal (iron, cobalt or nickel), was added to impart
some of its
ductility to the coinposite. The densified composites, also known as cemented
carbides,
cermets and hard metals, have been used extensively for several decades in
machining tools.
In order to increase the cutting speed and cutting efficiency, a variety of
additions have been
made to the composition of ceramic cutting tools.
In general, hardness of the cermets,(i.e., wear resistance and strength and
toughness,
i.e., fracture resistance of a hard alloy) can be changed by tungsten carbide
particle size,
cobalt content and additional amounts of other carbides. The resulting
hardened alloy has
been widely used for various purposes. However, in fonnulating these
materials, there is a
tendency that if wear resistance is heightened, fracture resistance is
lowered, and conversely,
if fracture resistance is heightened, wear resistance is lowered. Therefore,
in the design of
cennet cutting tools, there has been encountered the problem of iinproving one
material
property at the expense of another material property by adding cobalt or
another iron group
that will plastically defonn in the heat of high speed machining.
There have been many attempts to solve this problem, including removing the
machining equipment from use and reprofiling the cemented carbide cutting tool
in order to
reestablish its desired properties and scrapping the used cemented carbide
portion and
inserting a new cemented carbide portion with the desired properties. There
currently exists a
need for machining tools with chip control which can maintain the desired
machining
properties of wear resistance and breakage resistance during high heat high
speed machining.
2
CA 02427863 2003-04-29
WO 02/083348 PCT/US01/51614
Although cermets and WC have been used exteri'sively in the design of cutting
tools,
there still has not been a satisfactory resolution to the problem of tailoring
the composition of
the cermet or WC in order to maximize efficiency of the cutting tool. The
present invention
solves this problem by incorporating into a machining tool a chip control
insert made of WC.
Such inserts have not been previously used, and such inserts maximize the
efficiency of
machining tools.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Cutting tool inserts with chip control composed of essentially dense, fine
grained
polycrystalline, tungsten carbide (WC) are included in the present invention.
According to the present invention, the ceramic cutting insert for high speed
machining includes a cutting edge, a ralce face with a chip control groove
surface, a flank face
and the cutting edge that is formed at the juncture of the flank face and the
rake face.
These components are made by ceramic processing techniques and result in a
ceramic
body which has a density of greater than 95% of its theoretical density with
substantially all
grains having an average size of 0.001 to 20 micrometers.
In other aspects the insert is comprised of polycrystalline tungsten carbide
of at least
98.5% by volume tungsten carbide. In another aspect an iron group, e.g. cobalt
is present in
the ceramic body from 0.01% to 1.5% by volume.
A furtlier aspect of the present invention is to control the grain size of the
tungsten
carbide by adding an inert second phase such as refractory oxides, carbides,
nitrides or
borides.
The ceramic articles of this invention are particularly useful as wear parts,
especially
as cutting tools for a wide variety of materials, including the machining
titanium metals and
alloys of titanium which have a very high content of titanium, cast iron,
aluininum, high
nickel alloys, stainless steels, wood machining-cutting, and high speed
machining of steels.
3
CA 02427863 2008-12-04
BRM, F DESCRIpTION OF TuE DRAwTNCrS
Fig 1. is an illustration of types of chips that can be fonned during
machining. Panel
A illustrates the chips formed using a cutting tool with no chip control.
Panel B illustrates the
chips fot-rned using a cutting tool with chip control, Panel C is an
illustration of the types of
chips fonned when high speed machining.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
It is the primary object of the invention to make a molded polycrystalline
tungsten
carbide ceramic cutting inser-t_ having a chip control structure. In drilling
operations, chip
control is important so that drilling efficiency and tool insert damage does
not result. (See
Fig. 1) Incorporating chip brealter grooves or lands on the cutting insert
blank allows the
strip taken off of the workpiece to be broken up into short pieces. These
small chips will
readily fall away fi-om the machining region irito a receiving space or
containers, so that the
chips are contained and can be removed from the machine -tool,
Previously, polycrystalline tungsten carbide has not been utilized in the
preparation of
cutting tool inserts with chip control because tungsten carbide =was not
thought to have the
toughness, i.e. fracture'resistance, and hardness, i.e., wear tesistance,
required for inserts with
chip control. Toughness and hardness can be altered by the addition of an iron
group such as
cobalt. Ylowever, cobalt melts at the high heat of high speed machining,
making these
fonmulations unsuitable for the manufacturing inserts with chip controls.
Surprisingly, by
varying polycrystalline tungsten carbide powder size, percentage of cobalt,
temperature and
pressure, the present invention provides a polyctystalline tungsten carbide
formulation
capable of being molded (i.e., in punches and dies) iuto cutting tools with
chip coutrol that
have increased toughness and hardness suitable for high speed machining. The
present
invention may be utilized with a variety of insert chip contzoI designs, such
as those shown in
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,141,367; 4,318,645; 4,340,324; 4,247,232; 4,087,193;
4,056,871 and
3,383,748.
U.S. Patent Nos. 5,563,107 and 4,828,584 include various examples of tungsten
carbide ceramic materials which have been utilized in the preparation of
cutting tools,
4
CA 02427863 2008-04-29
Until the present invention, however, such materials were
not used in the production of inserts with chip control.
Tungsten carbide (WC) ceramics of the present invention can be tailored for
use in
particular applications by an appropriate choice of starting WC powder size
and by
controlling densification conditions control grain growth.
Desirable starting powder sizes fall within a range of from greater than 0.001
m up
to 20 m. The range, depending on application, is preferably from about 0.001
in to about
m, more preferably from about 0.001 to about 4 m. In one embodiment, the
tungsten
carbide powder size is about 1.0 m. Starting powder sizes of less than 20 pm
should
10 provide densified bodies having excellent properties.
Tungsten carbide powders having an average particle size of less than or equal
to 10
pm are commercially available. One such powder, Teledyne type N, has a nominal
average
particle size of 8 pm and includes a small amount of vanadium carbide as a
grain growth
inhibitor. Attriting such a powder simultaneously reduces the average particle
size, reduces
grain size distribution, and more uniformly disperses the grain growth
inhibitor. Even in the
absence of a grain growth inhibitor, attrition provides the benefits of
smaller average particle
size and a narrower particle size distribution. As an alternative, the WC
powder may have
these characteristics as synthesized. As a farther alternative, powders with
even larger
average particle sizes may be used provided they are milled or attrited under
conditions
sufficient to reduce the average particle size to less than or equal to 0.2pm.
These powders
necessarily require longer size reduction procedures and may, as a
consequence, pick up
additional quantities of impurities from media used to promote size reduction.
WC powders used in the present invention need not be 100% pure. They may
contain
very small amounts, e.g., less than 1.5 wt % by volume, of other materials so
long as the other
materials do not interfere with densification of the powder or adversely
affect physical
properties of resultant densified bodies. Examples of "other materials"
include cobalt, iron,
nickel, carbon and silicon. The other materials may, for example, be present
as a result of
powder synthesis procedures or as residue from milling operations. In some
embodiments,
cobalt is present from about 0.01% to 1.5% by volume. Preferably cobalt is
present at about
0.25 %. In addition to the other materials, the WC powders have an oxygen
content that
varies inversely with particle size. Thus, as particle size decreases, oxygen
contents tend to
5
CA 02427863 2003-04-29
WO 02/083348 PCT/US01/51614
increase. However, the oxygen content should be maintained at a level that
does not interfere
with densification of the powder or adversely affect physical properties of
resultant densified
bodies. In some embodiments a binder, e.g., wax is added to the powder to
facilitate molding
into the die. Preferably, the binder is less than about 5 % by volume. More
preferably the
binder is about 2.25% by volume. Grain size can be controlled by careful
control of
densification procedures even if the WC powder does not include a grain growth
inhibitor.
Any conventional densification technique may be used provided it yields the
densified
ceramic body of the invention. Conventional techniques include pressureless or
low pressure
sintering, hot pressing, hot isostatic pressing and rapid omnidirectional
compaction.
Densification is preferably accomplished by hot isostatic pressing.
Hot pressing of essentially pure WC powders at temperatures less than or equal
to
1,700 C and pressures of 35 MPa has resulted in polycrystalline tungsten
carbide bodies
which are greater than 98.5% of theoretical density. Also, significant
densification, (linear
shrinkage of 9%) has been observed for essentially pure but agglomerated WC
powders
sintered without external pressures at 1,600 C for 30 minutes in Ar. Such
significant solid
state sintering occurs in the absence of additives, although small percentages
of an iron group
element, e.g. cobalt, resulted in the attainment of closed porosity by
pressureless sintering and
near theoretical density (greater than 98% theoretical density). When such
powders contain
very small amounts of such additives are hot pressed at temperatures between
about 1,400 C
and 2,O00 C, the result in a fine-grained microstructure with isolated pores.
Preferably, the
WC powders are pressed at about 1900 C and about 50,000 psi.
Additionally, grain size can be controlled by very careful control of the
processing
conditions, especially sintering conditions, and by adding a small amount of a
second phase
which inhibits grain growth. Suitable grain growth inhibitors must be
compatible with WC,
eg., oxides, carbides nitrides or borides. The free energy of oxides used as
grain growth
inhibitors must be lower than W02 and W03 (i.e. AL203, Zr02, Ti02, NbO, Nb02,
Nb205,
Cr203, MgO, Si02, Ta?03, MnO, ZnO, Th02, BeO etc.) Suitable carbides for
controlling
grain size must have free energies of formation less than WC (i.e. VC, ThC2,
Cr23, C6, ZrC,
TiC, SiC, Cr3C2, etc.). Preferably, VC is added to the WC powder. Nitrides
used as grain
growth inhibitors must have free energies of formation less than WN2, and WN
(i.e., ZrN,
TiN, Th3N4, A1N, BN, NbN, VN, Si3N4, Cr2N, etc.). Similarly, borides must have
energies
of formation less than WB2, WB, and W2B, (i.e. ZrB2, TiB2 etc). Such grain
growth
6
CA 02427863 2003-04-29
WO 02/083348 PCT/US01/51614
inhibitors are present as less than about 1.5% by volume of the ceramic body
with quantities
less than about 1% volume percent being preferred, and about 0.35% by volume
being
especially preferred.
In all the above illustrations, it is necessary to realize that otller
interactions may also
occur. For example, the addition of TiC, TIN, or TiG promotes the foimation of
cubic WC in
solid solution with TiC, TIN or TiO and therefore changes the microstructure
EXAMPLE 1
Tungsten carbide powder (particle size of 1 micron), 0.35% VC and 2.25 % wax
was
spray dried into a pressable powder. The powder was pressed in a cavity with
punches and
dies to have to form of the insert shape and chip breaker put into the ceramic
body at the same
time. The ceramic cutting insert was heated to 400 C under argon to remove the
wax binder.
After all traces of wax binder was gone the insert was heated to 1900 C.
until parts became
dense. While maintaining temperature pressure (50,000psi) was applied to
remove porosity.
OTHER EMBODIMENTS
It is to be understood that while the invention has been described in
conjunction with
the detailed description thereof, the foregoing description is intended to
illustrate and not
limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the scope of the
appended claims. Other
aspects, advantages, and modifications are within the scope of the following
claims.
7
